The incidence of serious fungal infections, either systemic or topical, continues to increase for plants, animals, and humans. Many fungi are common in the environment and not harmful to plants or mammals. However, some fungi can produce disease in plants, humans and/or animals.
Fungicides are compounds, of natural or synthetic origin, which act to protect plants against damage caused by fungi, including oomycetes. Current methods of agriculture rely heavily on the use of fungicides. In fact, some crops cannot be grown usefully without the use of fungicides. Using fungicides allows a grower to increase the yield of the crop and consequently, increase the value of the crop. Numerous fungicidal agents have been developed. However, the treatment of fungal infestations and infections continues to be a major problem. Furthermore, fungicide and antifungal drug resistance has become a serious problem, rendering these agents ineffective for some agricultural and therapeutic uses. As such, a need exists for the development of new fungicidal and antifungal compounds (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,673,827; See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,617,330 to Walter, which describes pyrimidin-4-enamine as fungicides).
The antimalarial activity of 3-aryl-3-hydroxy-2-methylenepropionic acids has been reported (M. K. Kundu et al. 1999, Bioorganic and Medicinal Letters 9, 731-6), but the reported esters are lower alkyl (e.g., methyl) only.